Thursday, February 27, 2014

In a 2012 summary of Jewish education in North America, the Avichai
Foundation noted that elearning is becoming an increasingly important component
of Jewish education in North America.

The Avichai Foundation survey reviewed
a number of different elearning models. These included educational institutions
where online learning comprises a significant portion of the school experience
as well as schools in which elearning is scattered throughout the school day.
The Avichai review centered on the use of asynchronous, synchronous and blended
learning strategies. Particular attention was paid to the role that elearning
may play in helping to lower day school tuition costs.

A year-and-a-half later, the role of online learning in Jewish day
schools and supplementary Hebrew schools continues to grow. One of the biggest
challenges that Jewish educational institutions face when introducing
elearning, however, involves preparing the staff and providing them with the
knowledge, tools and comfort-level that they need to facilitate elearning in
their classrooms.

Some of the elearning Learning Management Systems and collaborative
tools offer helpful tutorials, but most educators who are just beginning to
enter the world of online education find these screencasts to be
technologically advanced and overwhelming.

For over 2 years, JETS Israel has been presenting a comprehensive course
for beginning Jewish online educators. The No Teacher Left Behind course is an
8-week module that gives step-by-step instructions and real-time practice in
facilitating online blackboards, Learning Management Systems, audio and video
recording tools, apps and mobile apps,
and more.

Recent NTLB sessions have seen the involvement of increasing numbers of
teachers from new regions including from Europe and Eastern Europe. The Winter,
2014 Course, which begin on February 19th 2014, includes educators
from the United States, Holland and Israel.

Participants in the Fall, 2013 NTLB class summarized their experience by
reviewing the information that they now have at their fingertips:

"I realized that you don't have to be in the classroom to teach
students. There is a wide variety of tools which make on-line classes effective
and interesting." B.R., No Teacher
Left Behind participant, Fall, 2013

"One thing that I really enjoyed was learning new
technology. I liked learning how the sites worked and getting a hands-on
experience. The best part though was seeing everyone's fruits of labor at the
end and learning from each other." W. G., No Teacher Left Behind
participant, Fall, 2013

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Beth Israel Vancouver Hebrew School students had an opportunity to discuss issues that interested them thanks to this week's online class with JETS director Smadar Goldstein.

The kids were invited to ask any and all of their questions to Sgt. Zevi Wruble who served with the IDF for 2 years.

D: have you ever killed anyone?

Zeevi: No - and I wouldn't want to.

D: Have you ever been hurt?

Zeevi: I sprained my ankle one week when I was in training.

E: Do you know anyone who has been hurt?

Zeevi: yes, a lot of my friends; in training, carrying heavy bags, you're
going to get a lot of injuries. Another friend had a firebomb thrown at
him and he caught on fire. That was bad. But he's ok now.

E: How old were you when you joined?

Zeevi:
20 - I did hesder; studied for 2 years in yeshiva, then army for 2 years,
then yeshiva for another year. Now I'm studying to be a lawyer.

E: Were you scared before you went in to the army?

Zeevi: I wasn't scared before, but sometimes, when I was doing terrorist
raids, I was scared. When the Arabs threw donkeys and refrigerators off
the roof on us, we're not even allowed to shoot back, because they are
not shooting at us. It happens all the time.

D: If you're not in combat, what do you do? Like if you have diabetes, like me.

Zeevi: Only 10% of soldiers are in combat, there's lots of other stuff to do. Cyberwarfare, stuff like that.

D: I would want to do that.

D: Were you ever proud of being in the army?

Zeevi:
Since the days of King David, there hasn't been a Jewish army. My
grandparents are both Holocaust survivors; When I was sworn in, I got a
Tanach and a rifle. I thought about how my grandparents in Nazi Europe
weren't able to protect themselves, and now, the Jewish country can and
always will protect ourselves. I was proud then.

D and others: That's really cool.

E: Was training hard?

Zeevi: YES! They train you not to sleep. We had to walk 40 km hikes with bricks in our bags.

D: That seems kind of pointless.

Zeevi:
yes, in today's day and age, it does seem pointless. But it's to test
you and test your ability that you can do anything, nothing can stand in
your way. You help friends, you carry the ones who are having a hard
time, on your back. It breeds solidarity and friendship. We also do
combat exercises; shooting practice, evening, morning, afternoon drills,
war drills, etc.

D: Do you watch sports in the army? Which ones?

Z:
You're assuming we had a TV that worked, that had reception, which
never happens. Actually, once I saw Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer game. The
whole unit sat and watched the game. After the game, we caught a
terrorist.

Zeevi:
But, many of them are quite poor and get paid a lot of money by the PA;
the worse the crime, the more money they get. Most of them are not very
nice. Some of them do want to be caught. Some shoot at you when you
catch them. Sometimes their mothers shoot at you, too.

D: Have you made any really good friends in the army?

Zeevi:
Absolutely. You're sleeping in dirt together 24/7, you're freezing out
all night long, nothing around you; you just hug each other for warmth.
You're literally glued to them for a year and a half. So, yeah, I had
some really good friends in the army. I'm a red head - and American -
and named Zeev - there three others like that in the army. We were a
trio.

D: Did you always speak English?

Zeevi: My parents are American, and wanted to live in the Jewish State, so
they moved to Israel. But I've always spoken English at home.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

In a 2012 summary of Jewish education in North America, the Avichai
Foundation noted that elearning is becoming an increasingly important component
of Jewish education in North America.

The Avichai Foundation survey reviewed
a number of different elearning models. These included educational institutions
where online learning comprises a significant portion of the school experience
as well as schools in which elearning is scattered throughout the school day.
The Avichai review centered on the use of asynchronous, synchronous and blended
learning strategies. Particular attention was paid to the role that elearning
may play in helping to lower day school tuition costs.

A year-and-a-half later, the role of online learning in Jewish day
schools and supplementary Hebrew schools continues to grow. One of the biggest
challenges that Jewish educational institutions face when introducing
elearning, however, involves preparing the staff and providing them with the
knowledge, tools and comfort-level that they need to facilitate elearning in
their classrooms.

Some of the elearning Learning Management Systems and collaborative
tools offer helpful tutorials, but most educators who are just beginning to
enter the world of online education find these screencasts to be
technologically advanced and overwhelming.

For over 2 years, JETS Israel has been presenting a comprehensive course
for beginning Jewish online educators. The No Teacher Left Behind course is an
8-week module that gives step-by-step instructions and real-time practice in
facilitating online blackboards, Learning Management Systems, audio and video
recording tools, apps and mobile apps,
and more.

Recent NTLB sessions have seen the involvement of increasing numbers of
teachers from new regions including from Europe and Eastern Europe. The Winter,
2014 Course, which begin on February 19th 2014, includes educators
from the United States, Holland and Israel.

Participants in the Fall, 2013 NTLB class summarized their experience by
reviewing the information that they now have at their fingertips:

"I realized that you don't have to be in the classroom to teach
students. There is a wide variety of tools which make on-line classes effective
and interesting." B.R., No Teacher
Left Behind participant, Fall, 2013

"One thing that I really enjoyed was learning new
technology. I liked learning how the sites worked and getting a hands-on
experience. The best part though was seeing everyone's fruits of labor at the
end and learning from each other." W. G., No Teacher Left Behind
participant, Fall, 2013

Monday, February 24, 2014

When
I was growing up in the '60s, our afternoon Hebrew School, in an effort to
mimic the public schools, invited parents to parent-teacher conferences. We
kids didn't take these afternoon events very seriously -- most of us felt that
Hebrew school wasn't "real" school. Judging by the turnout at these
conferences, most of the parents felt the same way (although my parents, to my
chagrin, were always the first to arrive).

Over
the years, complementary afternoon schools have experimented with a variety of
techniques which are aimed at encouraging parents to become more involved with
their children's Jewish learning. Parents are invited in to join school lessons
and other experiential educational activities including Shabbat and holiday
services, school performances and evening get-togethers. Synagogue and Temple
educators place a great deal of emphasis on the importance of involving the
families of their students in the curriculum and atmosphere of the school.

Based
on the comments of many Jewish educators, these efforts are producing mixed
results. Parents are often overwhelmed by their other home and work
responsibilities, and find it difficult to participate in their children's
complementary school activities. As a result, the parents aren't able to
follow-up on their children's Hebrew school curriculum which creates an
unfortunate disconnect that Jewish educators would like to address.

Temple
Emanuel in Pascack Valley, NJ is working with JETS Israel on a unique project
of online education. Among the goals of the program, JETS and Temple Emanuel
educational staff want to encourage a higher degree of parental involvement in
their children's Hebrew school experience and an increased understanding of
what their children are learning.

The
project, entitled The Holocaust: Remembering and Rebuilding, provides an
overview of the Holocaust and the Rebirth of the State of Israel for the
Temple's Bar and Bat Mitzva class. Students meet online over the course of
three months to gain a deeper understanding of the Shoah and the establishment
of the State of Israel, and how they impacted -- and continues to impact -- the
Jewish World.

All
of the lessons are conducted online to enable students to sign in from their
home and participate virtually. The dynamic lessons move from audio and video
clips to selected readings to textual study -- with multiple interactive
assignments and activities interspersed among the various presentations.
Students create shared documents, online bulletin boards, social posters and
collaborative presentations that summarize each week's lesson.

The
elearning aspect of the lesson also addresses parental involvement. Parents are
invited to participate with their children or, if they prefer, watch a video
cast of the session after the lesson to access the material and monitor their
own child's participation and progress.

A
recent mid-semester questionnaire was presented to both parents and students.
The reflections indicated that, not only were the students engaged in the
class, but the parents were also knowledgeable about their children's Hebrew
school activities and involved in the curriculum. While the parents suggested that a more
community atmosphere is created when the class takes place at the Temple
itself, they were enthusiastic about the program and indicated that they would
like to see it continue -- perhaps partially at home and partially at the
Hebrew School. These comments can now be taken into account when planning
future elearning projects.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

The findings of a research
project sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvementof theU.S. Department of
Educationsupport the claim that the use of technology
in the classroom enhances student learning in a number of ways.

The most common--and in fact, nearly universal--teacher-reported effect
on students was an increase in motivation.Teachers
talked about motivation from a number of different perspectives. Some mentioned
motivation with respect to working in a specific subject area, for example, a
greater willingness to write or to work on computational skills. Others spoke
in terms of more general motivational effects--student satisfaction with the
immediate feedback provided by the computer and the sense of accomplishment and
power gained in working with technology.Teachers
also frequently cite technology's motivational advantages in providing a venue
in which a wider range of students can excel. Compared to conventional
classrooms with their stress on verbal knowledge and multiple-choice test
performance, technology provides a very different set of challenges and
different ways in which students can demonstrate what they understand. In
addition, technology provides a more neutral playing field that is less
intimidating to timid students. As one teacher put it, "The kids that
don't necessarily star can become the stars."Another teacher expressed it as follows:
"They have a voice and it's not in any way secondary to anybody else's
voice. It's an equal voice."

Technical Skills

Students, even at the
elementary school level, are able to acquire an impressive level of skill with
a broad range of computer tools. Although the specific tools in use will likely
change before these students enter the world of work, the students acquire a
basic understanding of how various classes of computer tools behave and a
confidence about being able to learn to use new tools that will support their
learning of new software applications.

Accomplishment
of More Complex Tasks

Teachers for the
observed classes and activities at the case study sites were nearly unanimous
also in reporting that students were able to handle more complex assignments
and do more with higher-order skills because of the supports and capabilities
provided by technology.

More
Collaboration with Peers

Another effect of
technology cited by a great majority of teachers is an increased inclination on
the part of students to work cooperatively and to provide peer
tutoring. While many of the classrooms we observed assigned
technology-based projects to small groups of students, even when each student
has a computer and works "independently", teachers note an increased
frequency of students helping each other. The public display and greater
legibility of student work creates an invitation to comment. Students often
comment on each others' work, offer assistance, and discussing what they are
doing. One teacher made the point that the technology invites peer coaching. In
addition, students' ability to collaborate on substantive content can be
further enhanced through the use of computer applications specifically designed
for this purpose.

Breaking Down Classroom Walls - Increased Use of
Outside Resources

Many teachers cited increased use of outside resources as a benefit of
using technology. Not only are more resources available online through internet
searches, but social media now enables students to access to peers or experts who
can provide information or expertise on the particular subject under
discussion.

Improved Design Skills/Attention to Audience

Experiences in
developing the kinds of rich, multimedia products that can be produced with
technology, particularly when the design is done collaboratively so that
students experience their peers' reactions to their presentations, appear to
support a greater awareness of audience needs and perspectives. Multiple media
give students choices about how best to convey a given idea (e.g., through
text, video, animation). In part because they have the capability to produce
more professional-looking products and the tools to manipulate the way
information is presented, students in many technology-using classes are
reportedly spending more time on design and audience presentation issues.

*Similar findings were highlighted in more recent research done
by Gulek and Demirtas in their evaluation of Microsoft’s Anywhere Learning
Project.[2] Their
research demonstrated positive results on student learning and curriculum
delivery, as summarized below:

Student Outcomes:

· Laptops lead to more student writing
and to writing of higher quality

· Spend more time engaging in
collaborative work than non-laptop students.

· Participate in more project-based
instruction.

· Become collaborators (interact with
each other about their work).

· Direct their own learning.

· Report a greater reliance on active
learning strategies.

· Readily engage in problem solving and
critical thinking.

· Consistently show deeper and more flexible
use of technology.

· Spend more time doing homework on
computers.

Teacher Outcomes:

· Teachers who use laptops use a more
constructivist approach to teaching.

· Teachers who use laptops feel more
empowered in the classroom.

· Teachers who use laptops spend less
time lecturing.

*Conclusion

The rapid development of the internet and social networking in the 21st
century has changed the way in which students learn, and potentially the way in
which teachers teach. In the short number of years since these studies were
conducted, the increased sophistication of online tools and social media have
even increased the potential of online technology to enhance student learning.
It is therefore critical that teachers become familiar with and proficient in
the use of the easily accessible resources that can more effectively engage our
students in the learning process - to enhance their classroom experience and to
enable them to generate their own learning beyond the classroom.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Teachers
in Poland have learned that eLearning offers unique opportunities to
engagestudents who live in outlying
areas and have no access to formal Jewish education

"

"I
just wanted to tell you that as a way of involving the kids from the
e-school, together with the following institutions:The Lauder-Morasha Schools and the JOINT /JCC Warsaw, I arranged a photography contest called: "Jewish Poland than and now" . The exhibitionon
is on a display at The Museum of The History of Polish Jews and is open
to public for one month! The Museum also wants to display the
photography exhibit at the Virtual Shtetl project on-line in the future. We had a big finale, this past Sunday
at The Museum and the children from the e-school came to Warsaw and
where awarded diplomas and prizes.. All the materials for the contest
were used, of course, online."

(Hadassah Buchwald-Pawlak, co-founder and project
manager of the Lauder eSchool of Poland)

Providing
an online Hebrew School environment for Jewish
youngsters who don't have an available or accessible local complementary Hebrew
School is a concept which is gaining in popularity in Jewish communities
throughout the world.

Originally,
online Hebrew Schools were
established for English-speaking students. The idea was quickly adopted by
educational leaders in other countries who immediately grasped the value of the
model. Online Hebrew Schools enable students to log into their class from any
location and engage in the lesson while meeting, virtually, other Jewish
students from different localities.

In Eastern Europe, the Lauder organization has been leading the
movement to make Jewish education available to all Jewish youngsters via
distance learning frameworks. The Lauder eSchool operates in Germany, Slovakia,
Poland and the Czech Republic with a similar program slated to open next year
in Moscow. The Lauder e-School is a key component in the non--profit Lauder
organization's mission to promote the revival of the Jewish community
throughout Europe. The school offers "secular" subjects as well as a
Jewish focus and attracts youngsters from various backgrounds, ranging from
families who are involved in their Jewish communities to those who have little
or no Jewish background or affiliation.

A key component of Lauder's eSchool involves training the teachers
in the various facets of distance learning. Since 2011 Lauder has been turning
to the JETS: Jerusalem EdTech Solutions program to prepare the educators to teach
online. The teachers begin to develop the knowledge and skills that they'll
need to teach online courses via the JETS No Teacher Left Behind Course. No
Teacher Left Behind familiarizes teachers with online tools and methodologies that
empower them to teach online.

Hadassah values
her experiences with the JETS program when she wrote "I can tell you that,
whenever I have the opportunity to talk about e-school I always say that we
were all instructed by JETS -- even when I was at a conference in Madrid."

Many
of the Lauder No Teacher Left Behind participants have chosen to further their
learning and participate in JETS eLearning Community of Jewish
Educators.
The year-long eCom asynchronous course is facilitated on a Learning Management
System which enables all participants to access materials, practice new tools
and skills and interact among themselves as they learn how to including LMS
learning in their own elearning "classrooms." Lauder educators are
involved in the eLearning Community where they can trade ideas and experiences
with Jewish educators from throughout the world.The
Lauder photography contest was part of a bigger educational project called
"Kamienice Ya'akova" - "Ohalej Ya'akov". The program was
developed by the following:

Thursday, February 6, 2014

That question was posed to a group of Temple Emanuel middle school students as part of
the JETS Israel class on Defiance -- the fourth lesson of the Remembering
and Rebuilding After the Holocaust unit.

Almost all of the students' answers related to responsibility to
friends, family and other personal acquaintances.

"Sometimes a friend needs help --
food if they are sick, take care of their kids when needed, invite them over" J.C.

"Family, friends -- they
look out for you." D.B.

"Having an obligation and
doing that obligation for our family and friends" S.R.

The class proceeded to view an old Seinfeld clip that showed the show cast's
arrest under the Good Samaritan Law for ignoring a person in distress. Most of
the students were unaware that such a law even existed but they expressed
surprise and dismay that such a law was needed, even after the instructor
pointed out that, according to their view of "for whom are you
responsible," the Seinfeld characters were, in no way, responsible for the
person who was being mugged.

Now, the questions became more challenging. What does Judaism say about
helping your fellow man? What does morality say about helping someone in
distress? And from there the discussion moved into the crux of the day's lesson
-- how does someone weigh the desire to help with the risk that it might mean
to his or her own future and maybe, even to his/her life and the life of
his/her family? How do you educate people to be responsible to their fellow
man? The group moved into two separate groups to discuss the issues and consider
the alternatives.

"It is a judgment call; you
have to balance the risk you are taking with the need someone has for help."
J.S.

"God expects us to be the best person
we can be and do what is right in his eyes."S.R.

"You can only guide people
in the right direction. You can't always make someone do something"
C.B.

"You can teach that by
setting good examples" J.C.

"You draw the line when the
one who needs help expects the help and doesnt need it anymore" J.F.

By this time the students
had begun to look at the question of "to whom am I responsible"
differently. The class joined together to read some pertinent quotes and watch
two videos about people who had acted honorably and courageously during WWII.

They then contrasted this behavior with an account of a Jewish family that was faced with unexpected anti-semitism from a formally trusted friend during the Nazi era. A collection of quotes was presented

[re: the quotes]

"I
feel this speaks to me the most because it demonstrates how most people don't
do things for themselves" J.F.

"If
more people do good and if we can be good after some evil and stay good the
world will be a lot better "
D.B.

"Everyone
is trying to do good, but not always in the right way" B.G.

The groups moved to
linoboards to continue their research into some of the
best-known and not-so-well-known heroes of the Holocaust. The students in each group added their impressions of the readings and movies.

The lesson concluded with a Google Presentation (PPT) in which each student will create a slide about a Holocaust hero that s/he wishes to honor.

As the lesson ended, the question was again asked -- "to whom is
each of us responsible?"

"I have learned that anyone can help
anyone." S.R.

" I am responsible for anyone who I
see." M.H.

"Anyone who needs my abilities more
than I do." J.S

On Wednesday February 5th 2014 the class will meet with class
instructor and JETS director, Smadar Goldstein, to plant trees in the memory of
the Righteous Among the Nations at Temple Emanuel of the Pascack Valley. The
group's Google presentation, prepared by the students, will guide the ceremony.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

When a recent post lauding the concept of Design Thinking appeared on
the Jedlab Facebook forum,
I was intrigued enough to do some research into the technique. The reading and
video materials that I saw have encouraged me to consider how I can incorporate
Design Thinking into my online classes.

"Design Thinking," within the educational framework, refers to
a creative process that helps the teacher and students design meaningful
solutions to real-life problems. The goal of design thinking is to encourage
students to work in a more human, innovative, collaborative manner and in a way
that supports proto-type driven solutions to real-life problems.

My research turned up a wide range of methods that can be used to
promote design thinking in a classroom. The strategy that I like best, and
which I think will be most useful to me in my classes on Israel, involves a
simple process that, I believe, promotes more creative thinking on the part of
the students and more opportunities for reflection and growth on the part of
the teacher.

In the classroom, a design thinking lesson should begin with a
generative statement -- i.e. "Israel is important to the Jewish
people." This provides an opening for the students to expand on the
statements with tangents and directions that will lay the groundwork for future
activities and work. The students can then develop the subject by presenting
their ideas for sub-categories that they would be interested in investigating
further. In the case of an Israel curriculum this might involve Jewish
diversity in Israel, the historical relationship between the Jewish people and
Israel and some of the present-day issues that revolve around Israel's
relationship with the diaspora community.

At this point the class can either break up into pairs or groups or
continue to work together. Additional thought-provoking questions should be
presented -- one of the questions that I am planning for my lesson involves
asking the kids to consider how they think an alien might react when seeing,
for the first time, the special relationship that exists between the Jews and
the Land of Israel. This, my question continues, takes into account that most
non-Israeli Jews are thousands of years
removed from the Land of Israel. Another philosophical inquiry-type question
could launch a unit on Jewish diversity by having the students imagine a walk
down a Jerusalem street during one of the Jewish holidays and asking them to
consider what different sights they would see as different Jewish communities
celebrate the holiday according to their own traditions.

The idea is, basically, to find avenues that allow the kids to take the
introductory generative statement and expand it into the directions that
interest them. In a design thinking lesson the teacher uses empathy
so that the students ownthe subject. The teacher will
then definethe issue or concern which broadens
the subject to fit each student's interests. As the students ideate
they make the subject real and powerful. The
teacher must always prepare for unpredictable answers and allow
the students to focus on the areas that interest them.

A lesson that's created around the concept of design thinking is aimed
at encouraging the students to be aware of their own cognition processes as
they identify and use resources that help them to explore subjects in a real
and meaningful manner. Educators who have brought design thinking into their
classrooms have commented that a design thinking-based curriculum allows for
deeper learning, but demands that the educator be prepared to allow the process
to evolve. Most students are not used to such an open atmosphere in the
classroom and will need time to become acquainted and comfortable with these
types of lessons. In addition, design-thinking curriculum takes more time than
a traditional lesson.

Online education fits into design thinking curriculum. Students don't
have to raise their hands or wait for their turn to express themselves -- as
the questions are presented the students can participate immediately through
chat or other online tools.

About Me

About the author
Smadar Goldstein is an online educator based in Jerusalem, Israel, who has taught in over 20 schools in three continents, and feels the potential of online learning has just begun. Smadar is the Founder and Director of JETS, Judaic online and distance learning providers. She's passionate about merging the movements of yoga into online learning. Follow Smadar on Twitter @jetsisrael.